You would like to participate in a work-related seminar in another country. Write a letter to the person in charge of the seminar. In your letter: - ask for information about the seminar dates - ask for details of the programme - ask about accommodation - ask about the cost
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am Swathi Reddy, working as a software engineer in India. I have recently learned about your seminar on ethical hackingseminar on Ethical Hacking, scheduled to be held in Sydney, Australia in December 2025, through an advertisement in a newspaper. I am planning to attend this workshop and need some further details. The schedule was not mentioned in the advert. Hence, I would like to know the duration and schedule of the workshop. I would highly appreciate it if you could give me an overview of the programmea brief of the programme: which aspects of Ethical Hacking will be covered as part of the workshop, and if there will be any hands-on sessionsany hands-on or not. Please also inform me how much it would cost to reserve a placebook my seat. Lastly, as I will be travelling from India, I would like to know about the accommodation arrangements. Is there any accommodationany living place provided by the seminar organisersprovided by you? If not, could you please recommend any nearby hotelslet me know of the hotels nearby along with the approximate cost per night including meals? Thank you in advance for your reply. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully, Swathi Reddy
Why this response received Band 7.5
The letter has a clear, appropriately formal purpose and fully addresses the seminar schedule, programme, fee, and accommodation, adding useful questions about practical sessions and nearby hotels. Its main weakness is occasional unnatural phrasing, especially around a programme brief, hands-on content, and a provided living place. Prioritise more idiomatic request language and divide the requests into short purpose-based paragraphs for a more polished professional letter.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all four bullet points are fully addressed with relevant detail, and the formal tone is consistently appropriate.
For still greater precision, ask for the exact start and end dates rather than only the duration and schedule.
Coherence and Cohesion
The requests follow a sensible sequence and are linked clearly, although presenting the whole body as one block limits visual organisation.
Place the programme, cost, and accommodation requests in separate short paragraphs to make the letter easier to scan.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and suitable for a formal enquiry, with only occasional awkward phrases such as "a brief of the programme" and "living place."
Use natural expressions such as "an outline of the programme," "practical sessions," and "accommodation provided by the organiser."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good range of complex request forms is used with generally accurate control, while a few clause and word-form problems remain.
Refine the programme question to "whether there will be any hands-on sessions" and check parallel structure in multi-part requests.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You would like to participate in a work-related seminar in another country. Write a letter to the person in charge of the seminar. In your letter:
- ask for information about the seminar dates
- ask for details of the programme
- ask about accommodation
- ask about the cost
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.